Clause 183
Banking Bill
5:00 pm
David Gauke (Shadow Minister, Treasury; South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
We were getting carried away, were we not, with the speed of progress? I wish to ask the Minister a couple of questions.
We again have the words, “may publish”. I can see an argument for some discretion for the Bank of England as to whether it publishes details of compliance failure, particularly in respect of minor circumstances, but I wish to flag up a point about major failures.
The Minister may be able to provide some reassurance to the Committee as to the steps that will be taken by the Bank of England and, indeed, the Treasury, if a major compliance failure is identified within a payment system but the information has not necessarily reached the public domain. If some type of failure is identified by the Bank of England, it may cause publication, which may cause some damage to confidence in that payments system. I would be grateful to know whether the Minister has given any thought as to how such issues will be dealt with, because we do not want regulatory authorities to be unprepared when publication of some breach of the code of practice or principles is revealed to the public and there is a sudden decrease in confidence in a particular payment system.